Common

Black identity. Spiritual infinity. The seventh album by the Chicago rapper Common even takes love songs to a deeper level. "Love's not a mystery, it's everything," he says on "Driving Me Wild."

Common's spoken words, written and delivered as smoothly as anyone in the biz, ring loudest on "U, Black Maybe." That track, confronts the "struggle to just be us." It's about "obstacles and opposition, and not always by people of other nationalities, sometimes by your own kind, sometimes by your own mind." It's a beautiful meditation.

Kanye West's production work doesn't disappoint. Finding Forever is sure to be a Grammy contender for hip-hop record of the year.